Brave Hearts
by DaniPotterLovesGod
Summary: Sequel to Magic of the Keyblade! It's been a year since Ansem's defeat. Sora's waking up soon. But the Organization's getting stronger. I can only hope Sora, Donald, Goofy, and I will, too. I'm Ariana Diggory, and I'm not sure what's going on.


**I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Harry Potter**

Chapter One: Wake Up

Ariana Diggory threw another rock into the Black Lake. She sighed. She'd been throwing rocks into the lake for at least an hour now. Where was Riku? He'd promised he'd give an update on… him. She growled slightly. It had been like this all year. Riku would give an update, give her the name, and then she'd forget.

She hated it. She hated that she couldn't remember him, couldn't remember travelling. _If this is what I'm doing, imagine how Kairi's doing._ A pang of concern bubbled. The redhead islander and the boy were friends. Close friends. Poor Kairi must've been so confused. At least Ariana had Riku to remind her every so often.

"Shouldn't you be doing homework?" Ariana turned to find Albus standing behind her, laughter evident in his hazel eyes. The brunette girl couldn't help but smile at him.

"Albus Potter's worried about homework?"

"I'd rather not have Charlotte on my case."

Charlotte Moon was a mutual close friend of theirs, a Ravenclaw and extremely studious. "Good point."

The two were silent for a moment. "Isn't Riku supposed to come today?"

"He's _supposed_ to. That doesn't mean he will. He's been so busy doing something. He wouldn't tell me what."

A sudden _whoosh_ sounded from behind. The wizards turned and watched as a portal of black and navy blue appeared. Through it stepped a tall male. He pulled back the hood of his cloak, revealing long, silver hair and a blindfolded face.

"Riku!" Ariana ran to meet him and locked her arms around him. She had to stand on her tiptoes. A pair of strong arms wrapped around her.

"Ahem."

She felt her cheeks warm. She immediately let go and backed away. If only Albus hadn't been there.

"If the love birds are finished," Albus said, "maybe you have an update?" Ariana stiffened at the "love birds" but nodded. She turned to the silver-haired boy. There was an unusual smile on his lips. It was small but still noticeable. Only something like-

"Sora's waking up today."

-that would make him smile. _Wait!_ The words finally registered. A laugh escaped from her lips. "Really?!"

"Really."

"Can I see him?"

"You'll be travelling with him."

At these words, mixed feelings filled her. She had finally adjusted to normal life after a year, and now she would be travelling again. Not on her own, but with Sora. Had she ventured with him before? She had the feeling that she had, but she couldn't remember.

Why had Naminé decided to mess with his memories again? Oh, yes, she was forced to by people in cloaks, who had called themselves the Organization. Ariana still didn't quite understand Riku's explanation. He had left many blanks.

She was torn from her thoughts when Riku produced a black cloak identical to his own, except smaller. Ariana shrugged her robe off, so she was down to her white shirt, black vest, and black skirt. She slipped the cloak on and pulled her hair into a tight ponytail.

Ariana turned to Albus, whose eyes showed concern. "Don't worry. I'll be back before you know it."

"Just be careful, Anna."

"I will be, Al. Just be sure to tell Flitwick where I've gone. Oh, and Hazel and Orion." She turned to Riku, who stood patiently next to the Dark Corridor. He nodded at her. She still couldn't understand how he could "see" without actually seeing. She had figured at one point that he was using sounds, but he occasionally fought Shadows, which were completely silent. Maybe he could sense them some other way.

She decided, as she stepped through the portal, that it could wait another day. Her eyes met nothing as she traveled through the inky blackness, but she could her Riku's footsteps behind her. Finally, her eyes were met with the orange light of Twilight Town. The close proximity of the buildings and narrow path suggested that they were in an alley.

Riku drew his hood over his hair, and after a moment's hesitation, Ariana did so as well.

"Do you remember the way to the mansion?" he asked.

"Er, sure. Aren't you coming with me?"

"No."

He was silent. Ariana waited for him to explain. When he didn't, she prompted, "Why not?"

Riku turned away. "I don't want Sora to see me like this. I need to control my darkness before we can go back to the islands."

"You know he and Kairi won't care."

"It's for my dad, too." Ariana had never heard mentions of his family before. What about his mom? "And the islands. I don't want to taint them."

Ariana finally nodded. "Stay safe."

"I will. You know me."

"Unfortunately."

Riku let out a soft chuckle before darkness teleported him away. Ariana turned her gaze from where he'd been and to the sky. The sun remained in one place here, casting the world into eternal twilight. The colors of the clouds and bits of sky would change accordingly to the time of day. As it was 10:30, several clouds had paled to white, while the sky around them turned cerulean.

Cerulean. The color was so familiar. That was right. She had a mission to complete. She wandered to the end of the alley, which opened to a square-shaped yard with two other paths. She took the one across the yard.

Ariana mentally mapped out the route to the mansion. Soon, she would reach the market place area. Then she would reach a towering gray wall with a human-sized crack. She remembered this as she'd had to wander this world before. Riku had brought her here to visit Sora and left immediately afterwards for a mission that he could not explain. Naminé had been busy restoring a set of Sora's memories, and DiZ had been nowhere to be found.

DiZ was an enigma. There was no doubt about it. She knew next to nothing about him, asides his vendetta against a certain group of people, and it had something to do with Naminé. He treated her like dirt. To top it all off, even what he looked like was a mystery. He wore a red cloak and red bandages that covered his entire head asides from a single orange eye. The eye strangely reminded her of Ansem's eye color.

She turned from her thoughts when she caught a glimpse of the towering gray wall. She sprinted towards it and through the hole and into the forest. This part was only sparsely populated by trees, but it grew thicker towards the right. On the left, they thinned out to reveal an old mansion. She turned this way, past the gates, and through the door.

Ariana sneezed as soon as she stepped inside. The dust was so thick. Even though three people had lived in this house for several months, none of them had bothered to clean. Naminé had spent most of her time in her room and Sora's room. Riku hadn't actually spent much time there. DiZ probably just never cared.

Apparently, he could also see in the dark. The only source of light was from the filthy windows. Ariana had to lower her hood to see.

She entered the library and climbed down the secret staircase in the floor. It led directly into a dark blue room with green lighting strips on the floor. There were two doors. One led to the computer room which housed a massive, multi-screen computer that had helped Naminé restore Sora's memories. Through the other was a long, blue hall lined with pods on the left. This led to Sora. Ariana chose this door.

She walked slowly through this hall as she recollected the first time Riku had accompanied her down. At the bend of the corridor were two pods that she remembered were occupied. Ariana could see two figures through their translucent cases. One was a white duck with a blue shirt and zippered cap. The other was dog-like and wore a yellow shirt, brown vest, green pants, and a tall hat.

"Donald," she whispered as she glanced between the two. "Goofy." Memories of magic lessons with the duck and pep talks with the dog seemed to float in her head. How could she have forgotten these two great friends?

Without warning, the pods slid open. Ariana started her left hand ready to summon her Keyblade before she realized she was in no immediate danger. Donald and Goofy slid to the bottoms of their pods. The duck blinked open his eyes and stretched almost immediately. He caught sight of Ariana, widened his eyes, and squawked.

"Ari!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" He glanced around. "Where are we?"

"I'll explain once we wake Sora and Goofy."

"Why are they asleep? Why was _I_ asleep? Ansem didn't do this, did he?"

"No, no! I told you I'd explain. Now, how do we get Goofy up?"

The dog was still snoring heavily in his opened pod. Donald held a digit before his beak, signaling to her to remain silent, and summoned his staff. He raised it in the air, calling down a bolt of lightning. The yellow bolt coursed through Goofy, who started and yelped. He rubbed his head and stood.

"Gawrsh," Goofy said after a moment, "where are we?" His eyes turned to the brunette. "When did you get here?"

"I'll explain once we wake Sora up."

"Wake him up?" Goofy repeated. "Why is he asleep?"

Ariana said nothing but turned to the door. She sighed. Behind this door was Sora, savior of the worlds, chosen by the Keyblade, and her best friend, almost like a brother. The memories were returning.

She opened the door, revealing a large white room. There was honestly no way to tell where the walls were, or even the ceiling. The only thing that defined height was an enormous, gray seed-shaped pod.

"Sora!" she called. "Rise and shine!"

Lines appeared on the pod before splitting in two. It opened like a lotus flower. Steam billowed out revealing a boy of about fifteen wearing a red jumpsuit, blue jacket with white sleeves, blue belt, white fingerless gloves, and large yellow shoes, although they didn't seem as large. He had grown since the last time Ari had seen him, which made his clothes seem much tighter. They probably were. His brown spiky hair seemed longer, which added to the wildness. The last thing she noted was his sleepy blue eyes. He yawned widely and stretched.

His eyes met Donald's, then Goofy's, and finally locked with Ariana's. He sprang out of the pod and stumbled when he landed, most likely from not being accustomed to his added height. Donald and Goofy caught him and helped him back up. He wrapped them both in a bone-crushing hug. He chuckled happily.

His voice had deepened considerably. She took even more notice of this when he glanced up at her and spoke. "Ariana!"

"Sora!" she answered.

And with that, the two embraced. The brunettes laughed in almost perfect unison. _Finally,_ Ariana sighed. At last, they were reunited. After a few more moments, the two backed away at the sound of a loud yawn.

"That was some nap," a voice commented from Sora's direction. Ariana followed the sound and eventually saw a tiny green figure dressed in a fancy suit and a top hat standing on Sora's shoulder. She recognized him as Jiminy Cricket, the royal chronicler from the last adventure.

"You mean we were asleep?" Sora asked.

"I guess we musta been," Jiminy answered, "or I don't think we'd be so drowsy…"

"When do you think we went to sleep?" Goofy pondered.

Ariana pulled on her cloak's sleeve. She knew that they would have to find out eventually, most likely from her. "It was about a year ago," Ari finally said.

"A _year_?" the other four gasped. She jumped slightly at their response.

"We had just defeated Ansem and gone to look for Riku and the King!" Sora exclaimed. "We must've fallen asleep after that."

"What does your journal say, Jiminy?" Donald inquired of the cricket.

Jiminy complied and pulled a tiny (well, at least to the other four) maroon book with a gold crown on the front, signifying the importance of the journal. He flicked through it until finally halting on one page. "There's only one sentence: 'Thank Naminé.' Who's Naminé?"

Sora, Donald and Goofy glanced at each other, confusion in their eyes, before shrugging. Again, Ariana mentally debated.

"Something bothering you, Ari?" Goofy asked. Not for the first time, Ari was astounded at how perceptive he was. At the first glance into his eyes, she immediately calmed. Goofy just had that kind of presence.

_They need to know,_ she finally decided, but they didn't need to know everything. "Naminé was the one who put you to sleep."

"Why would the journal want us to thank someone who made us sleep for a year?" Donald asked. His eyes were narrowed, his wings crossed. He almost looked (no, he _did_) as if he wanted to blast this Naminé.

"You see, Naminé has the ability to manipulate memories," Ariana explained, "except, this group of people, called the Organization, took advantage of her ability. They made her use it on you four."

After their collective gasp, Sora voiced the next question. "What did she do?"

"She made you all forget about everything except her. It was all part of _their_ plan. They wanted her to eventually turn you all into their puppets, but she defied them. At this time, she had done too much for it to be fixed easily. That's why you all went to sleep."

"Then why don't we remember?" Jiminy asked. "And why is my journal blank?"

"That was the price of getting your memories back. You had to forget."

"Now I want to thank her even more," Sora said. At Ariana's questioning glance, he continued. "You know, for fixing our memories."

The brunette girl smiled. Sora seemed unfazed by the fact that it had been Naminé that had messed with their memories. He never did, she reminded herself, fail to see the good in others.

"What do you say we figure out where we are?" Jiminy proposed. The other four agreed, though Ariana nodded for their own advancement.

With that, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Ariana ventured outside to the forest. Most of the clouds, as it was now (Ariana checked here watch) 11:12, were now the color of warm cream, each of them surrounded by the brightest of blues. The sky closest to the sun now seemed almost completely cerulean, except for a few spots of purple and orange.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy wandered aimlessly throughout the town. Ariana trailed behind, keeping a wary eye open for Heartless. She needn't have, though. Not even a Shadow appeared during their traversing.

They finally reached the alley, where Ariana had first arrived. In a corner was a black, chain-link gate, and behind it was a somewhat faded red curtain. Donald and Goofy approached, but Sora paused, Ari beside him. She noticed a gleam of familiarity in his eyes.

"You know, I think I've been to this town." He crossed his arms in thought.

"What's it called?" Donald asked.

Sora didn't answer and narrowed his eyes in concentration. "Guess I must've imagined it," he finally concluded.

"This world is actually called Twilight Town," Ariana informed them.

"'Twilight Town,'" Sora echoed slowly. He shrugged and followed Donald and Goofy inside, Ariana behind him.

Behind the curtain was a rather cozy room. The room was brick, making the lighting rather dim. There wasn't much in the way of seating either, asides from an old couch, a crate, and a bright yellow boiler. Three teenagers were inside, each one seated on a different item. One was blonde with windswept hair, camouflage pants, black shirt, and a gray vest. The second boy wore a red shirt with long, white sleeves and blue jeans. A blue and white sweatband kept his dark brown hair from his eyes. The last was a brunette girl wearing an orange tank top and khaki shorts.

They all sat there, as if bored out of their minds.

The blonde looked up at the sounds of their footsteps and shot each of them a glare. "What do you want?"

"Nothing," Sora said, his hands up in a friendly gesture, palms open. "Just wondering what was back here."

"Now you know," spat the blonde. Ariana crossed her arms. Why were boys so territorial? "This is our spot."

The brunette boy slid off his crate and approached the quartet. "Ummm…"

"What?" Sora asked.

"You're all new around here, right?" the brunette asked. At their nods, he continued. "I'm Pence."

"Hayner," the blonde introduced. He had seemed to ease as soon as the quartet had confirmed they were new. "Nice to meet you, but we got stuff to do, so catch ya later."

"My name's Olette," the girl said. "Hey, did you finish up the summer homework yet? Independent studies are the worst, huh?"

Right, it was still summer on this world. Hogwarts had already started their school year last week.

"Homework?" Sora questioned. He glanced back at Donald and Goofy, both of whom shrugged and shook their heads. He glanced at Ariana.

"Oh, I've already finished mine."

Olette smiled. She reminded Ariana of Charlotte, a Ravenclaw, and someone who did homework religiously.

"So what're your names?" Pence asked.

"Oh, sorry," Goofy apologized. "We're Sora, Donald, Ari, and Goofy." He gestured at each of them in turn.

"Sora, Donald, Ari, Goofy," Olette echoed, "we just met someone who was looking for you."

"He sure seemed in a hurry," Pence muttered. "He had a black coat on, so I couldn't see his face, but all he had these big, round ears." He mimed the ears' size, as if to further a point.

Ari's eyes widened. Mickey? What was he doing around there? She had heard from Riku that the King was doing reconnaissance of his own. She had only met the mouse one time in the past year, and he'd been trying to stay as secret as possible.

"The King!" Donald exclaimed, joy filling his gaze. His beak was turned up in a smile. He wasn't the only one. Goofy nodded in excitement.

"Where did you see him?" Sora inquired.

"At the station," Pence replied.

"The station," Sora repeated. "Thanks!"

"Well, we'd better get back to that assignment," Olette suggested to her friend. She left the Usual Spot.

"Later!" Pence called back to them as he hurried after them.

"Oh, boy!" Donald exclaimed. "The King's trying to find us!"

"We'd better hurry to the station before he leaves," Ariana said. She hurried out, making sure the other three were following, and made her way to the station.

It wasn't long until they reached the station with the towering clock above it. Ari was sure this was the place, even though she didn't think she'd ever been there before. _I've been everywhere else,_ she reasoned. _Why wouldn't this be it?_

The quartet glanced around, searching for any sign of the mouse king. Where was he? Ariana prayed the enemies hadn't captured him. Her heart continued to pound at the further lack of the King.

_Whoosh!_

Directly in front of her appeared the strange silvery beings she had encountered before. They were part of the Organization! They were uniformly silver in color and bore humanoid appendages tapered to points, and a wide mouth, edged with what appeared to be a zipper. Ariana knew immediately that these weren't Heartless. They lacked the traditional glowing yellow eyes. She couldn't feel the darkness streaming off them either.

She jumped back to avoid its strike and held out her left hand. In a flurry of purple sparks, a sky blue sword with a yellow semi-circle and several prongs on the circular side appeared. The guard was off-white and in the shape of a cloud. _Radiant Sky_ glinted in the orange sunlight, as if eager for a battle.

Ariana struck the creature before her. It flopped away before recoiling and stabbing at her with its pointed arm. She strafed to the right and stabbed it with her Keyblade. It exploded in a cloud of gray and white thorns rather than the usual darkness.

She sprinted to a duo of these creatures that were creeping up behind Donald and blasted them with a bolt of Thunder magic. When they didn't fade, she pulled her wand from her pants pocket and hit each one of them with a reductor curse. This time, they finally vanished.

Sora, for some reason, found it much more difficult to defeat the creatures. He realized, after another minute, that his movements were sluggish, and his Keyblade was like lead. He never realized how out of shape one could be after a year of sleep. He had to ignore his growing exhaustion to defeat these creatures. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm and struck another one of the creatures.

Several minutes passed. By this time, Donald and Goofy were on their knees, dazed from exhaustion. Sora could barely stand. Ariana circled around them, _Radiant Sky_ held in a defensive stance. She glanced back at the other three to see how well they were doing. This was a big mistake.

_CRACK!_

A sharp pain resonated from the back of her head. Instantly, her vision turned black. The last thing she heard before falling into oblivion were two cries of her name.

Sora glanced around after hearing a very familiar voice in tandem with his own. After failing to find the owner of the voice, a figure landed between him and one of the sliver creatures. This person wore a cloak identical to Ariana's. His hood was drawn, so Sora couldn't see his face. In his hand appeared a sword in the shape of a bat's wing. It seemed oddly familiar, but why?

The figure leapt into action. He sliced twice at the nearest creature and destroyed it. His next target soon met the same fate. It wasn't long before all the creatures were vanquished.

It was at this moment that Sora exclaimed, "Wait! I know you." The figure turned towards him. "Riku?" The figure hesitated before pulling back his hood, revealing silver hair. He turned his blindfolded face to Sora. It _was_ Riku.

"Riku, we've been looking for you and the King-"

"Shh!" Riku put a finger to his lips. "They could be watching us."

"Who-"

"_Shh!_ You need to get away from here." His head turned in the direction of Ariana's still form. "The train will know the way."

"What train? Wait… you're not coming with us?"

"I can't."

"Why not?"

Riku turned away and bowed his head. What was he doing? Why wouldn't he stay? Wordlessly, Riku held out his hand and opened a Dark Corridor.

"Riku, wait!"

The silver-haired boy ignored him and walked through. Sora hobbled after him, but the Corridor closed before he could reach it. He fell to his knees. His friend was gone again.

Wait, friend-

He turned his attention to Donald and Goofy, both of whom were climbing to their feet. Both of their respective weapons had vanished. Other than some scratches, they were fine.

He then bent down to check on Ari. As far as he could tell, she, too, wasn't badly hurt. Hopefully, she was just unconscious. He wasn't a doctor, though. He really wished he could remember how to cast a healing spell.

"Riku was trapped in the Realm of Darkness," Goofy started, "wasn't he?"

Sora stood as his thoughts immediately turned to that day that felt like yesterday (_But was really a year,_ he thought incredulously). He remembered those white Doors to Darkness, and those doors closing, leaving his best friend on the other side. "Yeah?"

"Well, if Riku's here again, then-"

"That means the King is definitely here, too!" Donald interrupted, picking up on the train of thought. "We've gotta look for him!"

"We've gotta find Riku, too," Sora said. "Kairi's waiting for us on the islands. So what do you guys say? One more adventure?"

"What about Ari?" Goofy inquired.

"We'll ask here once she wakes up," Donald answered. "Riku said we needed to get outta here."

"Yeah! We hafta board the train!"

"Right," Sora said. He bent down again and carefully pulled the unconscious Ariana up and slung her right arm across his shoulders. He stumbled slightly under her weight. Was he really that weak?

A loud gasp reached his ears. "Oh my gosh! Are you guys okay?" Olette (who had spoken), Hayner and Pence stood at the entrance to the courtyard. Concern filled the girl's eyes, while the boys' faces were written in shock.

Why were they-

Oh, wait. The quartet had just been through a battle. Naturally, they were covered in scratches. Fresh blood still leaked from one on his arm. He was still supporting Ariana's dead weight.

Heyner approached and slung Ari's other arm over his shoulder. Sora immediately felt the weight lessen. "What happened to you guys?" the blonde questioned incredulously.

Sora briefly recounted the battle with those strange silver creatures as he directed Hayner up the stairs to the train station. "So, now we need to board the train."

"Which one?" Pence asked.

"I think it's that one," Donald suggested. He gestured with his wing at a purple engine and matching car with star-shaped windows. It seemed rather out of place with the warmer tones of the building.

"It looks like it," Olette agreed. "I've never seen that train before."

Sora and Hayner entered the car and deposited Ariana on a seat situated against one of the side walls. She didn't stir the entire time. Those creatures must have hit her pretty hard.

The two boys exited the train. "I guess this is it, eh, Sora?" Hayner said.

"Of course not!" Sora countered. The natives glanced at each other then back at the brunette. "We'll be back," he elaborated, "hopefully without those silver things."

"Guess you're right," Pence agreed.

_But I still have the feeling I won't be here again,_ Sora added mentally.

The train's whistle sounded, pulling him from his thoughts.

"You'd better go, Sora!" Olette exclaimed. "You'll miss the train!" With that, Donald and Goofy boarded the train. Sora turned to follow.

"See ya 'round!" Hayner called. The brunette boy turned back for a second and nodded, a smile on his face. Sora entered the train just before the door closed behind him. Almost silently, the train trundled away.

* * *

**A/N: Well, I'm finally back. I could give you a bunch of excuses as to why I haven't posted anything in the past few months, but that's just what they'd be: excuses. Although, I will say my summer job and college have been taking up most of my time in the past several months.**

**Something that you guys should know about this story: I'm not going to write every world. I honestly feel like if I tried to write all of them twice, they would be almost identical to how they are in the game, and I know you guys wouldn't like that. And I'm pretty sure I would lose steam. I am only going to write the major ones, like Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden, the World that Never Was, and Twilight Town. And the ones that include Organization members.**

**Thanks for reading! God bless!**


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